-■"-■•-. - 



SARATOGA 



{LIB RARY OF CONG RESS, I 

{|hap. .Y.1, |oprtgW |(o 

# # 

! UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, f 



-0- 



SARATOGA: 



MINERAL WATERS, 



AND THEIR USB IN 



PREVENTING 4ND ERADICATING DISEASE, 



AS A REFRESHING BEVERAGE. 



J. 



TJ^ 



B T O- CL ID A. ^*r s o : 



#,v 



>*< 



NEW YORK : 

RUSSELL BROTHERS, PRINTERS, 

17 to 23 Rose Street. 

1874. 

ft 



♦- 



-<> 



*< 1 



P 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, 

By C. C. Dawson, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



-♦ 



REVISED. 

Heretofore issued in Pamphlet Form. 






v of the village <__ 
(^SARATOGA SPRINGS. 



STATE ST. 





PREFACE. 



The writer of the following pages has endeav- 
ored to give a faithful and comprehensive — though 
necessarily brief — account of Saratoga, and its re- 
markable medicinal Springs. 

In regard to the character and history of these 
springs, there is manifested an increasing interest 
in every quarter of the world ; and as a descrip- 
tion of their medicinal properties is a matter of 
the utmost consequence, the writer has consulted 
the standard authorities upon the subject, and has 
not hesitated to make use of the exact langv. 
of medical men who have published the results of 
their experience in prescribing and using the 
waters. 

Although vast numbers annually visit the 
Springs, it is evident that only a small proportion 



PREFACE, 



of those who might be restored to health by the 
use of these natural remedies can thus avail them- 
selves of their benefits. " The fashionable and 
the rich," writes an eminent divine, "who fill 
these splendid saloons, are not alone the people for 
whom the beneficent Creator opened these health- 
giving fountains; but they are also those who 
occupy the sick chambers in all parts of the earth, 
who have never seen Saratoga, but who are 
relieved and comforted by its waters." 

C. C. D. 




I 



m 

GO 

§ 

Q 



SARATOGA SPRINGS. 



The most celebrated mineral waters on the 
American continent are those of Saratoga, N. T. 

A tract of country many miles in extent is here 
found abounding in mineral springs, greatly di- 
versified as to their chemical combinations, and as 
widely varying in respect to their importance as 
medicinal agents. The springs occur in a valley 
which runs nearly north and south through the 
elevated table-lands of this region, and in the 
midst of scenery of a varied and picturesque char- 
acter. Mountain ranges whose bold outlines are 
seen in the distant background ; rivers, among the 
finest in the world; rivulets and creeks in great 
numbers and of exquisite beauty; dense forests 
still undisturbed by the woodman's axe ; lakes of 
surpassing loveliness ; the peculiar charm of culti- 
vated fields and rural villages, — all contribute to 
render this portion of the state highly attractive 
to the professional tourist, as well as to the ordi- 
nary seeker after health and pleasure. 

The county of Saratoga lies between those 
streams so " famed in song and story," the Hud- 
son river on the north and east, and the Mohawk 
on the south. To the north-west its surface is 
mountainous, suggesting the region of mountain- 
wilderness which lies beyond ; but its ruggedness 



10 SARATOGA SPRINGS. 

gives way, as, in its central and southerly portions, 
it slopes toward the fruitful valley of the Mo- 
hawk, and displays a finely cultivated district. 
The soil is generally fertile. Iron-ore, sandstone, 
and limestone are abundant. The atmosphere is 
dry, pure, and highly electric, and its invigorating 
effects are peculiarly grateful to persons having 
weak or diseased lungs, and to all who are suffer- 
ing in any way from the influences of a miasmatic 
climate, or the damp, chilling winds common to 
the sea-coast. 

The village of Saratoga Springs is situated near 
the center of the county, thirty-eight miles by 
railroad north of Albany, and thirty-two miles 
north of Troy. It has a delightful location, three 
hundred feet above tide-water, in the vicinity of 
those mountain ranges which form the water-shed 
between the St. Lawrence and Lake Champlain. 
The Kayaderosseras, two thousand feet above the 
sea level, is only ten or twelve miles to the north- 
west, while within view, at the east and south, are 
the high ranges of the Green Mountains and the 
Catskills. 

Although many watering-places which have ac- 
quired some notoriety within the last half century 
are now fallen into disrepute, this place has main- 
tained a steady progress, and is now one of the 
most flourishing and attractive of our inland vil- 
lages. It numbers, at the present time, about 
eight thousand inhabitants. Its churches, schools, 



-4 



SARATOGA SPRIKGS. 11 

and stores are of a character suited to the necessi- 
ties of a place of wealth and fashion. Elegant 
private residences, with handsomely ornamented 
grounds, are numerous, and rapidly multiplying' 
with the increase of opulent citizens who estab- 
lish country-seats here, or, upon retiring from 
active business, make it the place of their perma- 
nent abode. In this respect the town is speedily 
acquiring a resemblance to the most celebrated 
European watering-places. The grounds of the 
principal fountains are adorned with a great num- 
ber of forest and ornamental trees, and, with the 
well paved and finely-shaded walks of the leading 
thoroughfares, render a promenade a delightful 
recreation. Provisions for the convenient and com- 
fortable accommodation of visitors are made on a 
liberal scale. Furnished houses for the season 
may be obtained by those who desire them. Pri- 
vate boarding-houses are of course numerous. The 
most fashionable hotels are the " Grand Union," 
the "United States/' the " Clarendon," the "Grand 
Hotel," and " Congress Hall." These are immense 
stri ctures, having accommodations for from five 
hundred to fifteen hundred persons each ; and for 
elegance, perfection of management, and sump- 
tuous fare, are unsurpassed in the country. Their 
location, in the immediate vicinity of Congress 
Spring Park, is central and delightful. The 
" Grand Union" and the " United States" are now 
the largest and most elegant establishments of the 
kind in this country, if not in the world. The 
latter, burned some years ago, has been rebuilt on 



^ ^ 

12 SARATOGA SPRINGS. 

a magnificent scale since the season of 1873. The 
proprietors of the " Grand Union " are connected 
with the management of several of the finest 
hotels in the country, and have acquired a wide 
celebrity as liberal and successful caterers. The 
"American" and "Arlington" (favorite winter 
as well as summer hotels) have been recently en- 
larged and renovated, and are reckoned among the 
most popular of Saratoga hostelries. 

The club-houses of Saratoga, with their gilded 
saloons and gorgeous furniture, their rich wines and 
tempting viands, their flocks of fashionable patrons 
and curious visitors — the latter of both sexes and 
all classes — illustrate one phase of its varied modes 
of life, — making of Saratoga, as some say, though 
not all in the same sense, an American Baden; 
while the Indians — the remnants of an ancient 
tribe — who annually, during the visiting season, 
make their encampment in a pleasant grove to the 
northward of Congress Park, afford an illustration 
of the opposite extreme ; and although the curi- 
osity to see "nature's children " is perhaps less 
manifest here than might be supposed, still the 
number of visitors to the encampment is quite 
large. 

The Springs are annually visited by at least one 
hundred thousand strangers, coming from every 
part of the Union, and from Canada, Europe, 
Mexico, South America, and the West Indies. 
Excellent bands of music play at the hotels each 
afternoon and evening during the height of the 
season, and a fine band also discourses harmony 
in the elegant park of the Congress Spring during 
some hours of each day. The streets are thronged 
with a gay and brilliant multitude, engaged in 
riding, driving, or walking, each enjoying to the 



^> 



SARATOGA SPRIXGS. 13 

utmost a fascinating kind of busy idleness. 
Amusements of various kinds abound, and conduce 
muck to the general lively and animated appear- 
aDce of the town, white they indicate tkat pleasure 
and faskion are happily combined, and most prop- 
erly associated with tke medical treatment. 

Tke Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad passes 
through the village, connecting, at Troy, with 
the Hudson River and Harlem Railroads from 
Xew York ; at Albany, with the People's Line of 
Steamers on the Hudson River, and the Boston 
and Albany Railroad from the east ; at Schenec- 
tady, with the Xew York Central Railroad from 
the west; and at Rutland, with the Rutland and 
Burlington Railroad from both north and east ; 
and at Whitehall, with the Lake Champlain 
steamers. Trains on the Rensselaer and Saratoga 
Railroad run each way twice a day, during the 
winter months, and three or more times a day 
during the summer months, connecting at above- 
named points with trains and steamers from all 
portions of the Xorthern, Eastern, and Western 
States, and Canada. Passengers by the day boats 
on the Hudson River have a full view of the mag- 
nificent Highlands of the Hudson, and of the Cats- 
kill Mountains, and reach Saratoga the same 
evening. Lake George, Lake Champlain, the 
Green Mountains, the Thousand Islands, Xiagara 
Falls, Trenton Falls, Richfield, Sharon and Lebanon 
Springs, are all within a day's travel of Saratoga. 



14 SARATOGA SPRINGS. 

The country about Saratoga affords a variety of 
attractive drives, among the most popular of which 
is a short one of only four miles to Saratoga Lake. 
This beautiful sheet of water (nine miles in length 
by two and a half in breadth) is visited daily by 
large parties during the season. Hotels upon its 
banks provide tempting dinners of fish and game, 
and boats are at hand for such as desire to enjoy 
a trip upon the water. The college regattas are 
now annually held here, and the shores of the 
lake, replete with quiet and gentle beauty, have 
become the site of some of the most elegant pri- 
vate villas in the country — that of Frank Leslie, 
Esq., called "Interlaken," being especially no- 
ticeable. 

Bemis' Heights, in the town of Stillwater, the 
scene of the famous engagement between Bur- 
goyne and Gen. Gates, and the scene of Bur- 
goyne's surrender, in Schuylerville, are within a 
pleasant two hours' drive of the Springs. They 
are imperishably associated with some of the most 
important events in the early history of our coun- 
try. 

Within a short distance of the Springs are sev- 
eral elevated points which afford characteristic 
views of the scenery of this region. All imagin- 
able combinations and varieties of detail are here 
presented, but each position displays some new 
feature of mountain scenery, near or remote, with 
lakes of crystal purity, silvery streams, and beauti- 
ful valleys, which cannot fail to be keenly enjoyed 
by all who find a pleasure in charming panoramic 
effects. Among those elevations which will best 
repay the visit of the tourist are Waring Hill, or 
"Mount Loper," sixteen miles distant, on the road 
to Mount Pleasant ; Stiles' Hill, which is reached 



SARATOGA SPRINGS. 15 

by a drive of a few miles along the east base of 
the Palinertown Mountain; Chapman's Hill, which 
is reached by extending the lake drive across the 
bridge, and along the lake shore, for a mile, turn- 
ing thence to the left for a short and sharp ascent; 
Wagnian's Hill, which lies three miles beyond the 
last-named, and is nearly sixty feet higher ; and 
Hagerty Hill, six miles from the Springs, near the 
road leading from the village to Luzerne, on the 
Hudson River. 

Corinth Falls, in the Hudson, are fifteen miles 
north of Saratoga Springs, and about one mile 
from Jessup's Landing. Baker, Glen, and Hadley 
Falls are also among the numerous falls of the 
Hudson. These are about eighteen miles from 
the Springs, and, like Corinth Falls, are highly 
interesting, and well entitled to the notice of the 
tourist. 

Lake Greorge, greatly renowned for its prom- 
inent association with our early colonial and revo- 
lutionary history, as well as for its remarkable 
beauty, is twenty-seven miles distant. The strik- 
ing scenery of its banks, its singular transparency, 
and the multitude of little islands which dot its 
surface like gems of emerald, render it probably 
the most picturesque sheet of water in the country. 
The Adirondack Railway, and stage ride of nine 
miles, is the pleasantest and most convenient 
route. Travelers can return the same day if 
necessary. 

A view of the celebrated Cohoes Falls, on the 
Mohawk, is afforded in passing by rail from Al- 
bany to the Springs ; but a carriage ride to the 
Falls, through the beautiful agricultural lands of 
that section, will give a much more satisfactory 
idea of the Falls and surrounding scenery. 



16 SARATOGA SPRINGS. 

A new avenue, which is called the " Mountain 
Drive/' has recently been opened by the exten- 
sion of Broadway northerly from the village. 
In addition to the fine scenery and healthful air, 
a short drive out on this fine avenue affords an op- 
portunity to visit Mitch ell's Qlen House — famous 
for the excellence of its game and fish dinners — 
and the neat little Driving Park in the Glen, 
where a quick turn may be had on one of the best 
kept tracks in the vicinity. The location of House 
and Park is delightful. 

But notwithstanding its connection with the 
War for American Independence, its salubrious cli- 
mate, and the scenic charms of the country, Sara- 
toga Springs must always be chiefly celebrated 
for its mineral fountains, and as a resort for in- 
valids and pleasure-seekers. 

Mineral waters have doubtless been used for the 
cure of diseases from the earliest ages. They are 
among those natural remedies which a primitive 
people would be likely to find best accommodated 
to their simple habits, and which they would 
adopt with that quick instinct, the wisdom and 
beneficence of whose guidance is so often con- 
firmed in more favored times by an enlightened 
judgment and the results of scientific researches. 
Accustomed to a nomadic life, these people would 
of necessity seek the vicinity of springs and 
streams of water for their temporary resting- 
places ; and as all spring and well waters are im- 



SARATOGA SPKCsGS. 17 

pregnated more or less with, mineral elements de- 
rived from the soil through which they pass, and 
varying in different localities, they would soon dis- 
cover that certain waters possessed peculiar virtues. 

Only such waters, however, as may be used for 
the treatment of disease, or for some special in- 
fluence on the animal economy, are properly classed 
as mineral waters. Anciently, such waters were 
regarded as almost sacred ; and when the pool of 
Bethesda was agitated so that its strong medicinal 
properties were most active, the waiting multitudes 
supposed that an angel from heaven " troubled the 
water." The Greeks used mineral waters for 
drinking as well as for bathing ; and the luxurious 
Remans were accustomed to spend their summer 
months at the once famous watering-place of 
Baiae, where a mild climate, a sheltered coast, and 
delightful scenery combined their attractions with 
those of the waters whose healing powers had then 
a world-wide celebrity. In the old world, the 
springs of Harrowgate, Cheltenham, and Bath in 
England, Seidlitz in Bohemia, Spa in Belgium, 
Baden-Baden and Seltzer in Germany, and Aix-la- 
Chapelle in Rhenish Prussia, while they are of 
very ancient renown, are still at this day annually 
resorted to by thousands of fashionable and wealthy 
pleasure-seekers, as well as by invalids of almost 
every description. 

It has already been remarked that mineral 
springs abound throughout this vicinity. Many 



18" SARATOGA SPRINGS. 

of these possess very little medicinal virtue. 
Among those at or near the village are the Con- 
gress, Empire, Columbian, Hamilton, Excelsior, 
Pavilion, Putnam, Washington, Star, High Hock, 
Hathorn, Eureka, Geyser, Red Spring, and Seltzer. 
Of these, by far the most important, commercially, 
as well as the most interesting for their medicinal 
character and history, are the three first-named. 
A particular notice of these springs will include all 
that it is needful to say in regard to the general 
character of the mineral waters of Saratoga. Be- 
fore proceeding, let us quote from an editorial let- 
ter in a recent number of the New York Observer 
(August 14, 1870), expressing in a few words the 
sentiment of thousands of visitors, and presenting 
a life-like picture of the scene daily witnessed at 
the most noted of all American springs : 

"The springs are delightful. The 'Congress 
Water/ the good old spring, the fountain of health, 
was never so delicious and so salubrious as now. 
I drink it every morning, and hold up the tumbler 
to see it ' sparkling and bright ' between me and 
the sun, and then enjoy it with a zest unprece- 
dented in former years. It has life in itself, and 
imparts its properties freely to those who drink it. 
Every morning a curious crowd convenes at Con- 
gress Spring. All classes and conditions congre- 
gate—women, children, statesmen, divines, politi- 
cians, beggars, — and all take their turn and their 
glass, and go away refreshed." 




o 
3 

GO 

s 

p 

o 



S3 

PL| 
GO 

GO 
CO 

O 

o 



SARATOGA SPRINGS. 19 



CONGRESS SPRING. 



This, the most famous of the medicinal springs 
of Saratoga, was discovered in 1792, by a party of 
gentlemen who were engaged in hunting in the 
vicinity. One of these was Johx Taylor Gtil- 
man", an ex-member of Congress, from Exeter, New 
Hampshire. Their attention was attracted to a 
small stream of water issuing from the rocky bank 
of the creek along which they were strolling, and 
which, upon being tested, was found to be a min- 
eral water of agreeable taste and remarkable 
strength. The importance of the discovery seems 
to have been at once apprehended, and out of com- 
pliment to the leading personage of the company, 
and as a token of their high opinion of its value, 
the name of the Congress Spring was then 
and there bestowed upon it. At first the water 
could be obtained only in small quantities, owing 
to the position of the rock, and the nature of the 
aperture from which it flowed ; and this, with its 
increasing popularity, soon being found to be insuf- 
ficient, efforts were made to render it more acces- 
sible, and at the same time to increase the supply. 
These efforts resulted in a temporary obstruction 
of the water. 



20 SARATOGA SPRINGS. 

In 1804, Gideon Putnam, who was one of the 
founders of the village, and to whose enterprise 
and liberality it is indebted for many valuable im- 
provements, observing bubbles rising to the surface 
of the brook within a few feet from the spot at which 
the water was first observed to flow, conceived the 
idea that the principal point of discharge was in 
the bed of the brook, and that by turning the 
stream aside through an artificial channel this 
invaluable spring might be permanently secured. 
In carrying out this design he was entirely suc- 
cessful, a copious supply of the mineral water being 
found to flow from the point indicated. After thus 
reaching the spring, he caused the earth to be care- 
fully removed some feet below the bed of the 
brook, and by proper tubing so effectually pro- 
tected it that an apparently unlimited supply was 
secured, without the necessity of any further exca- 
vation or tubing, for about forty years. At this 
time the grounds containing the Congress spring 
were owned by the Livingstons, an old and well 
known family, who had obtained the property 
under an early grant or purchase. 

In 1823, Dr. John Clarke, of New York, a gentle- 
man of very considerable scientific knowledge, aad 
who had introduced the first soda-water fountains 
in that city, having seen and examined the water, 
and being convinced of its great medical virtues, 
and prospective commercial value, purchased the 
spring farm, as ""ell as other property in the vicin- 



SARATOGA SPRINGS. 21 

ity, and at once instituted various improvements, 
and commenced bottling the waters for exporta- 
tion and sale. This business was carried on by 
Dr. Clarke and his partner in New York, under 
the style of Lynch & Clarke, until the death of 
the former, about 1833, after which Dr. John 
Clarke conducted it alone. 

In 1842, the original tubing having become 
somewhat impaired, Dr. Clarke caused it to be 
thoroughly overhauled, and a substantial new 
crib to be sunk to the point at which the water 
issued from the rock below. Here, by means of 
careful packing with clay, it was secured in such 
a manner as to protect the spring more perfectly 
than ever before, while at the same time the sup- 
ply was sensibly augmented. The business con- 
tinued and steadily increased under Dr. Clarke's 
judicious management, until the time of his death, 
which occurred in 1846. For some years after this 
event the business was carried on by Dr. Clarke's 
heirs, under the name of Clarke & Co. 

About the year 1852, William B. White, Esq., 
who had been previously connected with the busi- 
ness as an employe, acquired an interest in the 
property, and thereafter assumed control of the 
same, conducting the business in the name of 
Clarke & White. He continued the system of 
extensive and costly improvements inaugurated 
by Dr. Clarke, and largely increased the sale of 
the waters, to protect and permanently secure 



22 



SARATOGA SPRINGS. 



which, in their natural purity and strength, he 
expended large amounts. 

In July, 1865, the property passed from the 
executors of the estate of William B. White 
into the hands of a company incorporated under 
the laws of the State of New York, who, at the 
same time, purchased the Empire Spring, and 
assumed the management of the business, under 
the name of the Congress and Empire Spring 
Company. This company continues the bottling, 
packing and shipping of the waters, which are 
sent, not only to all portions of the United States 
and the British Provinces, but, to a considerable 
extent, also, to Mexico, South America, the West 
Indies, Europe, and China. The sale in foreign 
countries is constantly increasing. The home de- 
mand was never so great as at the present time. 
It would be difficult indeed to find a town of any 
magnitude in the United States where these wa- 
ters are not kept for sale; and scarcely a vessel 
leaves our shores for any distant port which does 
not reckon them among its stores or freight. 



SARATOGA SPRINGS. 23 



EMPIRE SPRING. 



This spring is situated near the base of a high 
limestone bluff in the northerly part of the village, 
about three-fourths of a mile from the Congress 
Spring, and is the most northerly spring of any 
considerable importance within the village limits. 
The presence of mineral water in this locality 
had been known for a long period ; but, owing to 
the popularity of the Congress Spring, and the 
great expense attending the excavations and im- 
provements requisite to make the water practi- 
cally available, its development was neglected 
until the year 1846, when William and BtKNBY S. 
Roblxsox, who were the owners of the property, 
undertook to tube it. They made an excavation 
about twelve feet in depth, eight of which passed 
through the dense hard pan to the solid rock, 
from which the water was found to issue so copi- 
ously that it became a task of no small magnitude 
properly to secure it. It was tubed, however, 
directly from the rock, and in the most thorough 
and satisfactory manner. The water immediately 
attracted general attention, and it was evident 
that it was of a quality scarcely, if at all, inferior 
in any respect to that of the Congress Spring, 



24 



SARATOGA SPRINGS. 



as a cathartic and diuretic, while a chemical an- 
alysis, which was made during the same year by 
Prof. E. Emmons, then State Geologist, and a man 
of eminent scientific" attainments, developed the 
fact that it possessed some valuable properties 
which adapted it to the successful treatment of 
various forms of lung complaints — a class of dis- 
eases hitherto thought to be beyond the remedial 
powers of the waters of this locality. The knowl- 
edge of its characteristic properties thus acquired, 
so favorably impressed Prof. Emmons that he im- 
mediately purchased one-fourth interest in the 
spring ; and its successful use in the treatment of 
diseases has given it a rapidly increasing popularity 
and fully confirmed the favorable opinions origin- 
ally founded upon its scientific analysis. It has 
proved itself adapted to a wide range of cases, 
especially of a chronic nature, and its peculiar 
value has become a well-recognized fact among 
medical men. 

From the general resemblance of this to the 
Congress Spring, it was at first called the " New 
Congress ; " but afterwards, in 1848, when it came 
into the hands of George W. Weston and Peck- 
ham H. Green, it received its present name, as 
significant of its speedily acquired importance. 
These parties, under the firm name of G. W. Wes- 
ton & Co., commenced bottling the water, and 
making extensive improvements, particularly in 
the opening of streets, and draining and ornament- 



SARATOGA SPRINGS. 25 

the opening of streets, and draining and ornament- 
ing the grounds, and their business soon acquired a 
considerable degree of magnitude. 

In 1861, the property was sold for $100,000 to 
D. A. Knowlton, and in 1863, Knowlton con- 
veyed the same to the Saratoga Empire Spring 
Company, by whom the present buildings were 
erected. This company transferred the property 
by dsed to the Congress & Empire Spring 
Company, upon its consolidation with that com- 
pany, in 1865, the latter company thus assuming 
its management in connection with that of the 
Congress Spring, as already stated. 



COLUMBIAN SPRING. 



This mineral spring, situated only a few rods 
southwesterly from the Congress, was originally 
tubed by Gideon Putnam, about the year 1805. 
It soon acquired a considerable reputation for its 
tonic properties, and of late years has become 
widely known for its virtues in particular diseases, 
of which mention will be made hereafter. Since 



26 SARATOGA SPRINGS. 

the discovery of its peculiar remedial properties, 
the sale of its waters, as well as the quantity 
drank at the spring, has largely increased, and at 
the present time the demand is nearly equal to the 
capacity of the spring. Being situated upon the 
same property with the Congress Spring, Dr. John 
Clarke came into possession of it at the time of 
his purchase of the Congress, and it has ever since 
been owned and controlled by the same parties. 

The spring issues from the natural rock, about 
seven feet below the surface of the ground, and is 
protected by a heavy wooden tubing, which is 
deeply incrusted by a ferruginous deposit. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES 

OF THESE WATERS. 

These springs, in their general appearance, are 
so nearly alike, that they may be described in 
almost the same terms. As viewed at the springs, 
the waters present a simmering appearance, which 
is sometimes increased to a degree of violent agita- 
tion, caused by the escape of the carbonic acid gas, 
which is constantly passing off, and which, being 
more dense than the atmosphere, collects over the 
surface of the water to such an extent as to be im- 
mediately fatal to breathing animals placed in 
close contact with it. 



SARATOGA SPRINGS. 27 

The waters are limpid and sparkling, which 
qualities they retain in a remarkable degree when 
bottled; although the Columbian Water, being 
strongly impregnated with iron, deposits a red- 
dish-brown sediment, with which also the glasses 
used at the spring become incrusted. The glasses 
used in dipping the waters of the Congress and 
Empire Springs become tarnished with a whit- 
ish incrustation, indicating, particularly in the 
case of the Congress Spring, the presence of a large 
amount of magnesia. 

The waters haye a saline, acidulous taste, which 
is seldom considered unpleasant. Indeed, while 
their medicinal properties are most effective, they 
are highly agreeable to the palate, and those who 
are accustomed to their habitual use regard them 
as a delightful beyerage. This is, in a large de- 
gree, owing to the presence of the carbonic acid 
gas, which gives the bright sparkling appearance 
to wines, and renders soda waters and sim- 
ilar preparations so extremely palatable. Great 
numbers of persons drink the waters daily, merely 
to allay thirst, or to gratify the palate ; and even 
though taken in liberal quantities they are re- 
garded as invigorating and wholesome, and their 
effects are seldom unpleasant. 

The temperature of the springs preserves a great 
degree of uniformity — that of the Congress being 
49°, the Empire 54°, and the Columbian 49°,— 
with the variation of scarcely a degree in all the 



28 SARATOGA SPRINGS. 

extremes of heat and cold throughout the year. 
This fact, together with the circumstance of the 
waters being but slightly affected by wet or dry 
weather, has led to the belief, entertained by many 
scientific men, that these fountains have their 
source at a great depth in the earth. 

The combination of so large an amount of car- 
bonic acid in the water, more than one volume of 
the gas being held in solution, increases its powers 
to hold other minerals in solution, and accounts 
for the fact that the water, upon evaporation, de- 
posits mineral salts which many times its bulk of 
common rain-water will not re-dissolve. 

When properly bottled and corked, the waters 
are preserved with remarkable facility, scarcely 
undergoing any change whatever, chemically or 
medicinally, in any climate, or after a very con- 
siderable lapse of time. The bottles, however, 
should be kept in a horizontal position, to prevent 
the shrinking of corks ; and with this simple pre- 
caution, the waters may be safely taken upon long 
sea-voyages, and will be found bright and sparkling 
even after the lapse of several years. 

Various tests, which have been applied during a 
long series of years, indicate that there has been 
no appreciable change in the chemical properties 
or medicinal qualities of the waters, and satisfac- 
torily prove that these fountains retain their orig- 
inal character in a remarkable manner. 

Although, on being exposed to the atmosphere, 



SARATOGA SPRINGS. 29 

a considerable quantity of carbonic acid gas is dis- 
engaged from the waters, experiments have shown 
that they still retain the gas largely in combina- 
tion, for which reason no considerable precipitation 
of their salts takes place until the waters them- 
selves are evaporated. 



MEDICINAL PROPERTIES 

OF THESE WATERS. 

Congress Water. — While these waters have 
active remedial properties, their effects, when used 
in comparative health, as an agency for promoting 
and regulating the healthy secretions and excre- 
tions of the body, should not be overlooked. They 
give tone to, and prevent uneasiness of, the stom- 
ach, especially when drank in small quantities 
after meals ; and their slightly stimulating effects 
are especially agreeable to the overtaxed and 
wearied man of business, who feels that something 
is wanted to " clear the head," and to give acute- 
ness and working power to the mental organism. 
Being readily absorbed and conveyed by the cir- 
culation through the entire system, their stimulat- 
ing effects are speedily perceived, and the result 
is an almost immediate sense of freshness and 
quickened vitality. As a preventive also of fevers 
and bilious disorders their use is very beneficial ; 



30 SARATOGA SPRINGS. 

persons who are in the habitual use of the waters 
rarely or never suffering from those periodical at- 
tacks of fever, headache, and other affections in- 
dicating excessive biliary secretions, so common in 
this country. As a safeguard against these forms 
of disease, when taken in health, these waters are 
the " ounce of prevention " which is infinitely bet- 
ter than a " pound of cure." 

As an aperient or cathartic, Congress Water, 
taken at proper times, and in suitable quantities, 
is conceded to be most innocent in its effects, pro- 
ducing no reaction which can injure even a delicate 
constitution ; and its use may be persevered in for 
almost any length of time, without increasing the 
quantity taken, as is so often necessary in the use 
of other cathartics. Even with a gradual diminu- 
tion of the quantity, free evacuations will continue 
until the system is properly relieved. These effects 
are produced without in any manner debilitating 
the alimentary canal, or impairing the digestive 
powers of the stomach ; while the spirits, appetite, 
and general health are improved and invigorated. 

In all those functional affections of the organs 
employed in the process of digestion, constituting 
what is usually termed dyspepsia, the waters of 
this spring have long maintained a high and de- 
served reputation. Multitudes of both sexes often 
suffer from constipation of the bowels until all the 
evil consequences of such a condition are realized 
in extreme debility, nervousness, and prostration 



SARATOGA SPRINGS. 31 

of the vital energies of the system, who might 
find speedy and certain relief by the use of this 
simple and harmless remedy. Invalids have been 
often surprised and delighted, after using the 
waters a few weeks, to find themselves rapidly 
gaining flesh and strength ; the real secret of their 
improvement being in the effect of the water, 
which greatly increases the power of assimilation, 
thereby securing a larger proportion of the nutri- 
tion contained in food, much of which is lost when 
the digestive functions have become impaired. In 
cases of chronic dyspepsia, a persevering use of the 
water, with proper dietetic restrictions, and suitable 
attention to the ordinary rules of health, gives the 
sufferer a speedy sense of relief, and in the end is 
certain to eradicate the disease, with its attendant 
miseries. 

Where there is a debilitated condition of the 
stomach and bowels, resulting in chronic diarr7icea, 
the water acts at once as a mild and agreeable 
cathartic, producing free dejections, without lan- 
guor or debility, thus removing the foetid and 
irritating accumulations induced by the inflated 
state of the system, and which provoke the dis- 
ease , and it also acts as a gentle stimulant, by 
which the digestive functions are improved, and 
such additional strength imparted to the body as 
enables nature successfully to combat with the 
disease. These effects indicate the grounds upon 
which these waters have long been recommended 






32 SARATOGA SPRINGS. 

as a preventive of cholera. In cases of the appear- 
ance of the premonitory symptoms, or of an actual 
attack of the disease, they have been used, in con- 
nection with other remedies, with the best results. 
The waters operate powerfully upon the biliary 
organs without enfeebling — the effects which, in 
cholera, physicians endeavor to produce by calo- 
mel pills combined with opium. The late Chan- 
cellor Walworth, but a short time before his 
death, published, in an Albany paper, a letter 
which has since been issued in pamphlet form, 
and extensively copied by the press of the country, 
in which he detailed his experience in the use of 
Congress Water, both as a preventive of, and a 
remedy for, this terrible disease — showing that 
very efficient relief might be obtained by its use. 

The use of the water as a cathartic is also bene- 
ficial in jaundice, the various forms of neuralgia, 
enlargement of the liver and spleen, rheumatic 
affections, cutaneous diseases, and in nearly all dis- 
orders occasioned by that round of fashionable 
indulgences generally termed " high living." In- 
stead of causing nausea or disturbance of the 
stomach, as is the effect of ordinary cathartics, the 
water, while it produces copious evacuations, seems 
at the same time to invigorate the whole system, 
giving a relish for the coarsest and most common 
articles of food. The freedom from griping pains 
which is noticeable in the cathartic operations of 
the water, is owing to the sedative effects of the 



SARATOGA SPRINGS. 33 

carbonic acid gas, which also tends to prevent that 
sense of languor usually accompanying the opera- 
tions of ordinary medicines of this class. 

The proper time to take these waters as a 
cathartic is in the morning only, except in cases 
where satisfactory effects are not obtained from 
the morning draught, when it may be taken as a 
laxative on going to bed, to be followed in the 
morning by such additional quantity of the water 
as will answer the wishes of the patient, without 
subjecting him to inconvenience. This being, es- 
pecially in persons of weak or irritable stomachs, 
the only time in the twenty-four hours in which 
the digestive organs are not engaged in the solu- 
tion and absorption of aliment, is evidently the 
best time to interpose a mild, exhilarating, and 
efficient cathartic. Let the water be taken always 
before breakfast, and in quantities sufficient to 
produce a free evacuation, and leave the digestive 
functions at liberty to exert their renewed powers 
on the next portion of food received into the stom- 
ach. Many persons receive permanent injury by 
indulging too freely in the use of the water, sup- 
posing that its beneficial effects are in proportion 
to the quantity imbibed, whereas the facts are very 
different. Two or three half-pint tumblers full, 
drank (not sipped) at the spring or from the bottle ; 
a pleasant walk, if practicable, for five or ten 
minutes ; another glass or two, if desired, on re- 
turning to breakfast, which may be eaten in fifteen 



34 SARATOGA SPRINGS. 

or twenty minutes after, — a cup of hot tea or 
coffee being previously taken, — will generally in- 
sure the full carthartic effect at once ; and if the 
operation is more active than desired, the quantity 
may be diminished, and if not sufficient, increased, 
the next morning. 

If the water at its natural temperature produces 
chilliness, let it stand (properly bottled and corked) 
in your room over night ; and if more active ca- 
thartic effects are desired, immerse the bottle, un- 
corked, for a short time in warm water, drinking 
its contents while warm, and the desired effects 
will be speedily obtained. When the temperature 
of the water is thus raised, some portion of the 
carbonic acid gas becomes disengaged, and passes 
off, and the taste is less agreeable, but still not 
especially unpleasant. 

A free indulgence in the water during the day is 
more likely to be injurious than beneficial, as 
when the stomach is full the water imbibed (if in 
in large quantities) only tends to disturb diges- 
tion, and generally fails of producing the cathartic 
effect which properly follows the morning draught. 
As an alterative, however, after proper cathartic 
effects have been obtained from the use of the wa- 
ter, it may be taken in small potations repeatedly 
through the day. If the draughts are limited to 
such very moderate quantities as will produce no 
unpleasant feeling, and no disturbance of the 
digestive functions, the water will be taken up in 



SAHATOGA SPECsGS. 



35 



the circulation, and conveyed throughout the sys- 
tem, thus gradually effecting a change in all the 
secretions of the body, by which the work of 
renovation and reparation is more perfectly accom- 
plished. 

As a diuretic and tonic, also, the water may be 
taken between meals, not exceeding a glass or two 
at a time, and as often as once in three or four 
hours. Taken in this manner it will be found to 
be agreeably stimulating, and to have a marked 
effect on the kidneys and bladder ; although, 
owing to the peculiar properties of the Columbian 
Spring Waters, they are more frequently recom- 
mended when these effects are desired. 

As a general renovator and preserver of health, 
as a home remedy at once innocent and efficient, 
Congress Water is of incalculable value. It is pre- 
scribed by the faculty in certain diseases with as 
much confidence as any preparation known to the 
apothecary. It is in an eminent sense Nature's 
own remedy, and thousands use it who resort to 
no other medicine, never suffering themselves to 
be without it in their houses, and never venturing 
to go upon a long journey, especially a voyage at 
sea, without being provided with it as an excellent 
and judicious traveling companion. It is an al- 
most absolute preventive of sea-sickness. Hon. 
Ththlow Weed declares that " no family ought 
to cross the Atlantic without Congress Water." 
"I have drank it," he says, "in the Tropical 



36 SABATOGA SPRINGS. 

Islands, in England, in France, in Germany, and 
Italy, with the same beneficial effects as when 
drawn fresh from the Spring ;" and he and many 
others characterize it, as it truly is, a delightful 
beverage. 

Empire Water.— The close resemblance of 
this water to the Congress in many of its proper- 
ties has already been remarked. In the cathartic 
effects of the two waters the difference is scarcely 
appreciable, although from the presence of a larger 
quantity of magnesia in the Congress Water, the 
operation of the latter is perhaps somewhat more 
pungent. But with very many constitutions the 
Empire Water produces the most agreeable results. 
It cannot be predicted with certainty in any in- 
stance, which water, as a cathartic, will be most 
effective, and after trial and comparison of the 
effects of both waters, the preference is frequently 
given to this. 

The value of the waters has been best shown in 
the treatment of obscure and chronic diseases. In 
many instances persons have been restored to 
health, or greatly relieved by the use of these rem- 
edies, when all others proved of no avail. Al- 
though the science of chemical analysis has now 
attained a good degree of accuracy, the waters 
doubtless still contain elements not yet known to 
chemistry or pharmacy. These, entering into and 
forming a part of the inimitable composition of 



SARATOGA SPRINGS. 37 

these waters, enable them to exercise upon the 
general economy a multifarious action which all 
the united resources of ordinary therapeutics can- 
not effect. The salts of bromine, for example, are 
of recent discovery in chemistry, but, as compo- 
nent parts of certain mineral waters, have long been 
successfully used in the treatment of disease. It 
is evident, therefore, that there may be other 
remedies in these waters still unrecognized except 
in the effects produced by their use. It must, in- 
deed, be borne in mind that we cannot be said to 
know very accurately the real chemical constitu- 
tion of these waters. The chemist finds by his 
analysis bases and acids, but he cannot tell us with 
absolute certainty how they are combined. The 
order in which the various ingredients have been 
brought together is Nature's secret. There is also 
an element of time in the preparation of these 
waters the importance of which must be consider- 
ed. How different the method of Xature from the 
hasty compounding of crude drugs by the con- 
scienceless manufacturer and vender of worthless 
imitations, too often sold as " genuine ! " 

Empire water is used successfully by those who 
are suffering from the incipient stages of pulmo- 
nary disease. Instead of producing fever, increase 
of cough, or any other unpleasant symptoms, it 
gives relief, and causes a diminution of night 
sweats. Coughs and pains about the pectoral re- 
gions, where dependent upon a diseased action or 



38 SARATOGA SPRINGS. 

irritated condition of the stomach and bowels, are 
also most effectually removed by a persevering use 
of the water. In cases of scrofula, its use has been 
uniformly attended with benefit, and frequently 
has resulted in the entire removal of the disease. 
In all dyspeptic and bilious diseases it is eminently 
beneficial, as also in the removal and cure of the 
thousand unpleasant results of constipation. Those 
who drink this water find that it requires less to 
affect them as a carthartic after using it a few 
weeks or months than when first taken. 

This water is especially adapted to the successful 
treatment of rheumatism and gout, which are cer- 
tain to be improved or cured by its use ; and all 
eruptive diseases of the skin, pimples, blotches, and 
ulcers, are most effectually eradicated, while its 
purifying effect adds tone to the stomach, and in- 
vigorates the whole system. As a preventive or 
remedy for the diseases natural to warm climates, 
especially intermittent, gastric, and bilious fevers, 
dysenteries, and disorders of the liver, this water is 
a remedy of remarkable efficacy. It gives vigor 
to the circulation, removes constipation, creates an 
appetite, and promotes a healthy condition of all 
the secretions and excretions of the system. 

The directions for using this water are the same 
as for Congress Water, and those who use the bot- 
tled water will find a pint bottle ordinarily suffi- 
cient as a cathartic in the morning, but a larger 
portion may be taken if deemed necessary to in- 
crease the effect, and the quantity required can 
always be determined by a fair trial of the water. 



I 



SARATOGA SPRINGS. 39 

As an alterative, from one-fourth to a whole tum- 
bler should be taken three or four times a day. 

As a diuretic or tonic it should be taken between 
meals, a glass or two at a time. 

Empire Water is, in the estimation of many- 
visitors, the most agreeable in taste of all the 
Saratoga Waters. In it are happily combined the 
properties of an efficient medicinal agent and those 
of a pleasant and exhilarating beverage. 

Columbian Water. — This water, possessing 
valuable diuretic, tonic, and alterative properties, 
is deserving special attention from those who are 
suffering the debility and prostration which result 
from long-continued diseases of the kidneys and 
Madder, gravel, and irritated condition of the ure- 
thra, aggravated, it may be, by neglect or impru- 
dence. In all such cases the Columbian Water can 
be used with the assurance of immediate relief from 
the annoying and distressing symptoms which be- 
long to this class of diseases, and of the restoration 
of the healthy action of those organs. 

As a chalybeate mineral water it possesses sin- 
gularly active properties, which have the effect to 
dissolve the calculi, and prevent accumulation of 
deposits in the bladder. For the distressing dis- 
ease known as diabetes, it stands unrivaled as a 
remedial agent. A fair trial will remove all doubts 
of its positive beneficial effects in all inflammatory 
conditions of the urinary passages, and while acting 



40 SARATOGA SPRINGS. 

as a curative, its tonic effects combine to give 
strength and vigor to the impaired powers of 
the system. 

The large quantities of free gas, together with 
the iron so abundant in it, render it a tonic of 
great value in many cases of irritable and weak 
digestive and assimilating organs. Its use is found 
to strengthen the tone of the stomach, and to 
increase the red particles in the blood, which, 
according to Liebig, perform an important part in 
respiration. Experiments have proved that the 
number of these particles may be doubled by the 
use of preparations of iron ; but it must be remem- 
bered that the ordinary preparations of this mineral, 
to be obtained of the apothecary, produce compar- 
atively little effect, passing as they do through 
the alimentary passages with very little absorp- 
tion. Mineral waters, on the contrary, as may be 
inferred from the experiments of Dr. Beaumont, 
are introduced into the blood by the absorb- 
ents of the stomach, without any previous depo- 
sition or digestion, and "are thus admitted to 
the inner coats of all the blood-vessels, and to 
the minutest branches of the secretory appa- 
ratus." 

In liver complaints, in dyspepsia, in erysipelas 
and all cutaneous diseases, as also with slowly -heal- 
ing icounds and ulcers, this water, taken in small 
quantities — say, half a tumblerful at a draught — 
but frequently through the day, and preceded by 



SARATOGA SPRINGS. 41 

the free use of Congress or Empire Water, taken 
before breakfast (to promote free action of the 
bowels), will be found highly beneficial, strengthen- 
ing, and restorative. 

As a remedy also for chlorosis, and a variety of 
other complaints peculiar to the female sex, this 
water is especially recommended, and will prove a 
great blessing, adapted to restore the health and 
vigor of youth, and to impart a freshness and 
beauty to the complexion which cannot be re- 
tained unless the female system is free from 
obstruction and in a healthy condition. These 
difficulties, being generally chronic in their 
nature, require a persevering use of the water ; and 
in most cases, to insure the best results, the bowels 
should be kept open by the occasional use of Con- 
gress or Empire Water, taken in the morning. The 
want of a free action of the bowels is, indeed, often 
the procuring cause of many difficulties, such as 
irregularity and suppression, which might be 
avoided by the combined use of these waters, 
which, causing neither pain, nausea, nor any other 
unpleasant symptoms, yet impart freshness and 
vigor by their peculiar effects. 

Physicians at the springs, and elsewhere, fre- 
quently prescribe Columbian Water to follow a 
course of treatment with the more aperient waters 
of the Congress and Empire Springs. When suf- 
fering from the prostration and debility following 
either of the various forms of bilious, intermittent, 



42 SAKATOGA SPKINGS. 

and gastric fevers, the patient finds its reparative 
effects extremely beneficial. 

The quantity of water from this spring to be used 
daily must necessarily depend, in a great measure, 
on the state of the disease, and the condition of the 
stomach. It is therefore best to commence its use 
in small quantities at a time, and at regular inter- 
vals, gradually increasing the quantity and fre- 
quency of the draughts, as may be most agreeable 
to the stomach, and best adapted for each peculiar 
constitution or complaint. 

The proprietors bottle it in half pints, so that it 
can be used without waste, a half pint being ordi- 
narily sufficient for two draughts as prescribed. 
It is also bottled in pints, for those who prefer it 
put up in this manner. 

When drank, the water betrays a strong chaly- 
beate taste, and a pungency indicative of the pres- 
ence of a large portion of carbonic acid. 



DANGER OF ARTIFICIAL WATERS. 

The important services which these waters have 
rendered far away from their source, and the con- 
sequent increasing demand for them, have had 
the effect to stimulate the manufacture of arti- 
ficial mineral waters, which have frequently been 



SARATOGA SPRINGS. 43 

imposed upon the public by unscrupulous dealers 
as the genuine waters of these springs. 

The use of the terms " Congress Water," " Co- 
lumbian Water/' or " Empire Water," alone or in 
combination with other words, when applied to 
any other than the liquids naturally flowing from 
these springs, is an evident violation of the rights 
of the proprietors, and a fraud upon the public. 
In a recent case, determined in the United States 
Court, the manufacturer and vendor of an artificial 
compound, sold as Congress Water, were enjoined 
from putting up or selling " any water not of the 
natural flow of the said spring, in bottles or 
packages marked with the words ' Congress Wa- 
ter/ or with words of like import." It would be 
well for the public if this matter were more fully 
understood, as the articles thus offered are entirely 
worthless, and often dangerous ; their use frequent- 
ly producing griping pains, vertigo, etc., and some- 
times resulting in serious permanent difficulties, 
—effects wholly different from those produced by 
the genuine waters. They weaken the digestive 
powers, and destroy the tone of the stomach and 
bowels, often rendering a mild case of dyspepsia 
incurable. Old boxes and bottles, bearing the 
genuine brands, are often bought up by counter- 
feiters for the purpose of filling them with their 
valueless articles — for which reason purchasers 
should always examine the corks, which cannot 
be used a second time, and which, if the waters 



44 SARATOGA SPRINGS. 

are genuine, will have the brand of the bottling 
company. 

The injury inflicted by the sale of these artificial 
compounds upon the proprietors and the public is 
double ; for on taking these spurious articles, 
and finding either no effect, or injurious effects, 
from their use, purchasers in future refuse the gen- 
uine waters, supposing they have already tried 
them ; or, knowing that the waters used are arti- 
ficial, decline the natural waters on the supposi- 
tion that they have tried what is in substance the 
same, without benefit— as if there existed the 
slightest comparison between them ! 

That it is impossible to form these waters arti- 
ficially, the testimony of scientific men is uniform 
and abundant. " It is impossible," says the cele- 
brated English chemist, Sir Humphrey Davy, 
" to recombine the ingredients so as to make an 
article of equal quality, the effects of which will be 
the same as the natural water.' The language of 
the late Dr. James Johnson, of London, is as 
follows: "Mineral waters contain many agents 
which we cannot imitate by artificial combina- 
tions. This is proved by every day's observations. 
Thus, the saline, aperient mineral waters will pro- 
duce ten times more effect than the identical mate- 
rials artificially dissolved and mixed. The same is 
true with respect to the chalybeate springs. A 
grain of iron in them is more tonic than twenty 
grains exhibited according to the pharmacopoeia." 



SAKATOGA SPRINGS. 45 

An acorn may be analyzed, but it is as impos- 
sible for the chemist to form an acorn from its 
chemical elements as it is for him to create the 
oak, which, in the course of nature the acorn is 
destined to produce. To give the name, therefore, 
of Congress Water to a mere solution of common 
salt, soda, magnesia, lime, and iron, or other min- 
erals, is as absurd as to give the name of wine to a 
mixture of cream of tartar, alcohol, and mineral 
salts, which this liquid proves to be when analyzed. 

In so important a matter it is deemed well to 
add the testimony of Dr. Oonstanttne James, to 
be found in his " Practical Guide to the Mineral 
Watering-places of Europe." " Artificial mineral 
waters of the best fabrication are, in a medical 
and chemical point of view, only a poor counterfeit 
of the real waters whose names they usurp. They 
are doubly pernicious, as they do not attain the 
physician's aims, and cast a certain discredit on 
the genuine production." 

The testimony of Dr. A. A. Hayes, and S. Daj*a 
Hayes, Esq., State Assayers for Massachusetts, is 
to the same effect. "Although we know just 
what the genuine water contains, an artificial 
water made by the analysis would not be the 
same thing medicinally. Mineral waters are the 
productions of natural, chemical agencies, aided by 
time, and we really know but little of the result- 
ing combinations and their physiological effects." 

However skilfully combined, therefore, the 



46 



SARATOGA SPRINGS. 



manufactured imitations may be, they are desti- 
tute of the characteristic properties which Nature 
so mysteriously and abundantly supplies in those 
springs. The editor of the New York Gazette gives 
his readers a timely caution, as follows : " If you 
don't want to grow old prematurely; if you would 
keep the teeth in your mouth, the luster in your 
eyes ; if you would not have a used-up digestive 
apparatus; if you would give a wide berth to 
Bright's disease, which is making so many bite 
the dust, — then first and most of all, don't drink the 
manufactured mineral waters that are offered from 
numberless fountains. They are sadly injurious, 
and very many people are drinking them to excess." 

" GO TO THE NATURAL SPRINGS," Says Dr. BOUR- 

don, a celebrated French physician. " Nature is 

FAR BETTER THAN THE LABORATORY I CANNOT 
CONDEMN IN TOO STRONG TERMS THE USE OF ARTI- 
FICIAL MINERAL WATERS, THEY NEVER REPLACE 
THOSE OF THE NATURAL SPRINGS." 



PUTTING UP THE WATERS FOR 
SALE. 

Probably not one-fifth part of the waters of 
these springs which are used medicinally are 
drank in Saratoga. Multitudes, it is true, flock 
here during the summer months, but their stay is 



SARATOGA SPRINGS. 47 

usually limited to a few brief weeks — a time, in 
many cases, too short for these mild, natural rem- 
edies to accomplish their perfect work. Thou- 
sands of visitors, therefore, find it necessary to 
continue the use of the waters after leaving the 
springs, and great numbers of other sufferers from 
the various ills which flesh is heir to, who are not 
able to visit Saratoga, still find the waters a source 
of comfort and health. Thus, while the benefit of 
these springs is enjoyed, at Saratoga, only by a 
comparatively limited number of persons, and 
principally during a brief season, their blessings 
are carried, by means of the bottled waters, all 
over the world, and are dispensed to multiplied 
thousands, without regard to season or climate. A 
large and important branch of commerce has thus 
sprung into existence, involving a liberal expen- 
diture of capital, and furnishing employment, 
directly or indirectly, to a great number of persons. 

The bottling and packing is carried on through- 
out the year, and, except during the height of the 
visiting season, when so much is consumed at the 
springs as materially to decrease the supply for 
bottling, the work is prosecuted night and day. 
The arrangements for this purpose are the most 
complete of any thing of the kind in the country, 
and all the various operations are carried on with 
a care, skill, and perfection unsurpassed. 

In order to increase their facilities, the spring 
company have erected a glass factory in the village, 



48 



SARATOGA SPRINGS. 



where they not only make all the bottles required 
in their own immense business, but fill large 
orders for all kinds of bottles for other purposes. 
Some eighteen or twenty neat cottages in the same 
part of the village have been erected by the com- 
pany for the use of their factory operatives. 

Each bottle, before being filled, is thoroughly 
washed and rinsed with both warm and cold water, 
a stream of each of which is constantly pouring 
into the tanks before the washers. To detach any 
impurities that cannot be removed by other means, 
a small brass chain is dropped into each bottle and 
thoroughly shaken about. The substitution of this 
simple and effective method of cleansing for the 
use of shot or pebbles is an improvement 
which might well be adopted by every housewife. 

The corks are either manufactured or imported 
expressly for this company, none but the finest 
quality being used. For the protection of the 
public against manufactured, inferior, or spurious 
mineral waters, each cork is distinctly branded on 
the side with the name of the water and the initials 
of the company, thus : — 

Congress Water, Empire Water 
C.&E. S. Co. C.&E. S. Co. 

Columbian Water, 
C. & E. S. Co. 

The brands used for this purpose are set into a 
small table, their lettered faces being nearly level 



$. — 



SARATOGA SPRINGS. 49 

with its surface. They are kept hot by a jet of 
gas turned on them from below, and the corks 
receive their brand by being rolled over the heated 
types — an expert boy performing the simple oper- 
ation with great rapidity. 

The wire used for securing the corks is manu- 
factured expressly for the purpose from the finest 
quality of copper, some 2, 000 lbs. being required 
annually. 

The packing-boxes are made on the premises, and 
are of uniform shape and size, each box holding 
two dozen quart, or four dozen pint bottles. 
Each box receives the peculiar brand of the com- 
pany, put on with stencil plates. Purchasers 
should be familiar with these brands, as well as 
with those upon the corks, and should carefully 
observe them when buying the waters. 

Each box of Congress Water is branded on the 
end thus : 

THE 
COllKH 

OF AM j <5B'2i\IJIXK 

CONGRESS WATER 

AHE ISRAXDEE) THUS 
CONGRESS WATER 



<> 

50 SARATOGA SPRINGS. 



Each box of Congress Water is branded on the 
top thus : 



«I 






4* \ 

(HIXttllESS SIMtlXG 

WATI3K 

t !c| \ 

is » * «c 

SARATOGA SIHUNGS 

N.V. 

Empire and Columbian Water boxes are simi- 
larly branded, the name, of course, being appro- 
priately changed in each case. 

The water is pumped from the spring through 
pure block tin pipes into a receiver, holding from 
Rye to six gallons, from which it is drawn into the 
bottles ; the pipes, pump, and receiver being so 



SARATOGA SPRINGS. 51 

constructed as to prevent any escape of the nat- 
ural gases. The corks, after being soaked in 
warm water until they become so soft as to be 
easily compressed, are driven into the bottles by 
machinery, the process reducing their size before 
entering the bottles about one-third. It requires a 
strong bottle to stand the pressure of their expan- 
sion after being driven in, and even strong men 
sometimes find it difficult to pull them out. A 
single workman will fill and cork from fifteen to 
twenty dozen bottles per hour. 

After being filled and corked, the bottles are laid 
upon their sides in large bins, holding from one 
hundred and fifty to two hundred dozen each, 
where they are allowed to remain four or five days, 
or longer, to test the strength of the bottles by the 
expansion of the gas, and also to detect any corks 
that may be leaky or otherwise imperfect. The 
breakage, while in this situation, is about five 
per cent, of the whole number filled, and some- 
times more. The bottles frequently burst with a 
sharp report, like the firing of a pistol or the 
cracking of champagne bottles. Every bottle that 
breaks, either while in the testing bins, or in any of 
the various processes of washing, filling, or pack- 
ing, is registered in the office of the company, by 
means of wires going from different parts of the 
establishment, and centering there in an apparatus 
arranged for the purpose. All leaky corks are 
drawn, and the bottles refilled with water direct 



52 



SARATOGA SPRINGS. 



from the spring. While all these precautions 
add largely to the expense of putting up the 
waters, they render a leaky, and consequently a 
bad bottle of Congress, Empire, or Columbian 
Water almost impossible, and they also render 
the breakage of bottles in subsequent handling a 
matter of rare occurrence. 

When the bottles and corks have been thus 
thoroughly tested, the corks are securely wired, 
this operation being performed with great rapidity 
by employes long trained to the work. 

The next process is the packing in cases, which 
is also done with great care and remarkable dex- 
terity. The neck of each bottle is firmly wound 
with clean new straw, and the bottles are placed 
on their sides in tiers of equal number, a parting 
strip of straw being laid between each bottle and its 
neighbor on either side. A layer of straw is also 
placed between the tiers of bottles, as well as at the 
top and bottom of the box. When the box is filled, 
the packer walks over the bottles, for the double pur- 
pose of settling them properly in their places, and 
as a further test of their strength, before the lid is 
put in its place and nailed down. If a bottle 
gives way under the weight of the packer, of 
course the whole box is emptied, and not again 
repacked until it is thoroughly dry, as must be all 
the straw which is used for packing. 

As immense quantities of these waters are put 
up during the winter months, when the demand is 



-* 



SARATOGA SPRINGS. 



53 



comparatively small, and when the weather ig 
usually too cold for their safe transportation, large 
storage capacity is required to secure and protect 
the stock on hand. Some idea of the room re- 
quired for this purpose may be formed from the 
fact that the buildings used exclusively for storing 
water in boxes, at the Congress Spring alone, have 
an area of over twelve thousand square feet on 
the ground floor, with capacity for safely keep- 
ing at a proper temperature through the winter 
months more than twenty thousand boxes of the 
water. 

The Company receive visitors at their bottling 
houses with great courtesy, and a pleasant hour 
may be spent in examining their establishment. 



54 



SARATOGA SPRINGS. 



MAN AND CONGRESS WATER. 



[From "The Saratogian^ 1870.] 

A chemist and physiologist is writing a series of 
articles on the Laws of Health, for the Cohoes 
Cataract. We extract the following, which demon- 
strates how nearly the constituent parts of man 
and Congress Water agree. This may be the rea- 
son why our mineral waters are so beneficial in 
restoring persons to health — they restore the equi- 
librium among the constituent elements : 

" Here is a man who weighs 140 pounds. — I select 
him especially because he is convenient as a water- 
meter. Stand him up and let us look at him. 
Physiologists tell us that this man is made up of 

100 pounds of water and 40 pounds of solids (strictly 

101 and 39). With all his firmness and apparent 
strength, and though he may look as dry and tanned 
as leather, and as tough, he is 70 per cent, water. 
Burn him, and all you will get is a few ashes, the 
rest will have consumed and evaporated. Of the 
40 pounds of solids, about one-half (say 20 pounds) 
being carbon, will burn, but nearly 30 of the 40 
will actually disappear, and what you will have 
left will be about 10 pounds of bones, or bone- 
ashes ; eight pounds of these bones will be found 
to be the phosphate of lime, one pound the carbon- 
ate of lime, and a little over 5 ounces the phos- 
phate of magnesia. There are also, from other 



SAKATOGA SPRINGS. 55 

parts of the body, about 5 ounces phosphate of 
potash, and certain small portions (counted in 
grains) amounting from i of an ounce to 1 and 2 
ounces of the following mineral constituents, to 
wit : Phosphate of soda, chloride of sodium, chlo- 
ride of potassium, oxide of iron, carbonate of soda, 
sulphate of potash. 

" So if we take out the fibrine and omit the lime 
(which is in excess), this man is about equal to a 
bottle of Congress Water, with only some slight 
differences in the proportions of ingredients. 
Seventy -two (72) per cent, of him is water, and the 
rest you may reduce to oxygen and its compounds, 
and the above-mentioned minerals." 



CONGRESS SPRING IN THE OLDEN 
TIME. 

The "View of Congress Spring in 1816," 
which forms the frontispiece of this book, is a 
reduced copy on wood of a curious and rare steel 
engraving, printed in 1817 in Dr. William Meade's 
"Experimental Enquiry into the Chemical Prop- 
erties and Medicinal Qualities of the Principal 
Mineral Waters of Ballston and Saratoga." The 
author of this work — an elaborate volume of 200 
pages octavo — was an eminent physician and 
chemist of Philadelphia, and a member of various 
learned and philosophical societies. He had been 



56 



SARATOGA SPRINGS. 



preceded in this field of research by Dr. Valentine 
Seaman, of New York, a very distinguished physi- 
cian of that day, who had published a work in 
1793 and 1809, entitled, "A Dissertation on the 
Mineral Waters of Saratoga, including an Account 
of the Waters of Ballston." 

At the date of Dr. Seaman's later publication, 
Saratoga had already eclipsed Ballston in the fame 
of its mineral waters ; but the latter, having been 
for a time the fashionable resort, still offered the 
better accommodation for visitors. The only pub- 
lic house then open in Saratoga was a building of 
seventy feet in length, erected by Gideon Putnam 
in 1802, on the site of Union Hall — now the Grand 
Union — until within a recent date owned and oc- 
cupied by his descendants. Putnam's sign, a 
rudely-painted representation of " Putnam and 
the Wolf," is still preserved as a curious relic by 
one of his family. The Congress Hall was begun 
in 1811, by the same hardy and resolute pioneer, 
and, at the date of Dr. Meade's publication, was a 
large and fashionable hotel. 

Dr. John H. Steel published his first treatise on 
" The Mineral Waters of Saratoga and Ballston " 
in 1817, a second edition of which appeared in 
1819, and in 1831-2 appeared his enlarged work 
on the same subject. 

It is a noteworthy circumstance that the attention 
of the eminent scientific men above named was 
thus early directed to these waters. Their experi- 



SARATOGA SPRIXGS. 



57 



ments, the methods and results of which, are care- 
fully recorded, furnish ample confirmation of the 
statement made in the preceding pages, that " there 
has been no appreciable change in the chemical 
properties or medicinal qualities of these waters," 
and that " they retain their original character in a 
remarkable manner." It may be noted also that 
Dr. Steele, in his later work (1832), states particu- 
larly of Congress Spring that " the water of this 
fountain retains its original properties, or its 
medicinal qualities, the same at least as they were 
twenty years ago ; " and to this must be added the 
recent statement of Prof. C. F. Chandler, one of 
the leading chemists of our day, who certifies that 
a comparison of his own analysis (recently made 
and published herewith) " with the analysis made 
by Dr. John H. Steel in 1832, proves that the Con- 
gress Water still retains its original strength and 
all the virtues which established its well-merited 
reputation." 



58 



SARATOGA SPRINGS. 



DIRECTIONS FOR USE. 
[From Dearborn's "Saratoga, and How to See /£."] 

It is hardly possible to lay down all rules for 
any of the springs, there is so much individuality 
in each case, so much that requires special atten- 
tion, and the special direction of a physician, that 
in almost any case advice should be obtained from 
some of the physicians who devote particular at- 
tention to the waters. 

The standard rule is, that when drinking the 
waters for cathartic purposes they should be taken 
before breakfast in the morning. In many cases 
it is also advisable to drink one or two glasses at 
night before retiring, followed by a larger quan- 
tity in the morning. Even this rule is not always 
the best for every one. Some find it better to 
drink the water an hour before breakfast, others 
only a few moments. 

Some people have stomachs of so cold and tor- 
pid a habit that they need the most active and ex- 
citing remedies. Others have such exquisitely 
irritable nerves that they need anodyne medicines 
if they attempt to drink what are called the 
" stronger" waters.* The bowels of these people 



* It is a fact of daily experience that a free indulgence in 
the crude mineral waters of recent discovery is often at- 
tended or followed by internal soreness or discomfort, indi- 
cating disturbance of the stomach, intestines, kidneys, 
bladder, etc. Visitors suffer in this manner without sus- 
pecting the cause of their troubles. Such disorders consti- 
tute a new class of ailments, and may be entirely avoided 



-o 



SARATOGA SPRINGS. 



59 



may be thrown into great pain and distension by 
a few tumblers taken in the morning at some of 
the springs. They are foolish if they conclude at 
once that no Saratoga water will help them. 
Gradual loss of appetite, sense of fullness and 
oppression, feverishness and sometimes cholera 
morbus, indicate that the waters need to be sus- 
pended for a time, or a less exciting spring should 
be selected. 

Do not mix the drinks. 

A moderate use of the waters will be found 
most beneficial. 

The diet should be liberal, but an abundance of 
vegetables should be avoided, and only those 
which are perfectly fresh should be used. 

As an alterative, the waters should be drank in 
small qnantities during the day. 

The iron waters are liable to cause headache 
when taken before breakfast. They may be used 
with benefit before, or after, dinner or tea. From 
one-half to one glass is all that is necessary. 

The diuretic waters should be drank before 
meals, and at night, and should not be followed 
by warm drinks. Walking and other exercise 
increases the diuretic effect. 

Raising the temperature of the water by placing 
a bottle of it in boiling water, makes it more effica- 
cious as a cathartic. It is also said to precipitate 
the iron. 



by using only such waters as have been known and used for 
the past half century with entire comfort and safety. 



60 SARATOGA SPRINGS. 

The Principal Constituents, 
which give character to the Cathartic Springs, are bicarbon- 
ates of magnesia and soda, and chloride of sodium ; to the 
tonic waters, bicarbonate of iron ; the alterative waters, 
iodide of sodium, chlorides of potassium and sodium, etc. ; 
the diuretic waters, bicarbonate of lithia and protoxide of 
hydrogen. 

Carbonic acid, the spirit of the springs, not only contrib- 
utes to the solubility of the salts contained in the waters, 
but also renders them more palatable and more agreeable 
to the stomach. It is the perfect solution of the ingredients 
which renders the water valuable. 

Bicarbonate of magnesia is a mild laxative and a good 
palliative in acid or sour stomach, heartburn and sick head- 
ache, especially if the person is constipated. 

Bicarbonate of soda first diminishes the secretions and 
subsequently increases them, the urine being most suscepti- 
ble to its influence. 

Carbonate of iron increases the number of red corpus- 
cles in the blood, stimulates the appetite and excites the 
heart's action. It has a tendency to constipate. 

Chloride of sodium forms part of every tissue of the 
body except, perhaps, the enamel of the teeth. It increases 
the solubility of the albumen of the blood and prevents a 
too rapid destruction of the red corpuscles. It increases the 
flow of the gastric juice and bile, promotes the interchange 
of the fluids in the body, and augments the quantity of urine 
secreted. 

The other important ingredients are bicarbonate of lithia, 
the iodides and bromides, the bicarbonate of lime, etc. The 
great problem among physicians is how to cause their medi- 
cines to be absobed when taken into the system. Many of 
the ingredients of mineral springs would be almost inert in a 
state of powder, but when held in solution in mineral water 
are admitted to the inner coats of all the blood vessels, and 
are powerful alteratives of the entire system. 



SARATOGA SPRINGS, 



61 



Analysis of Congress Spring Water. 

By Prof. C. F, CHANDLER. 

The sample of Congress Spring- Water, taken by me from 
the Spring, contains in one United States gallon of 231 cubic 
inches : 

Chloride of Sodium 400.444 grains. 

Chloride of Potassium 8.049 

Bicarbonate of Magnesia - - - -121.757 

Bicarbonate of Lime 143399 

Bicarbonate of Lithia 4.761 

Bicarbonate of Soda 10.775 

Bicarbonate of Baryta 0.928 

Bicarbonate of Iron 0.340 

Bicarbonate of Strontia - - - - a trace. 

Bromide of Sodium 8.559 

Iodide of Sodium 0.138 

Sulphate of Potassa 0.889 

Phosphate of Soda 0.016 

Silica 0.840 

Fluoride of Calcium ) 

Biborate of Soda, > each a trace. 

Alumina, ) 



Total- - - - 
Carbonic Acid Gas 



700.895 grains. 

- - - 392.289 cubic inches. 



REMARKS. 

A comparison of the above analysis with the analysis made 
by Dr. John H. Steel, in 1832, proves that the Congress 
Water still retains its original strength, and all the virtues 
which established its well-merited reputation. 

Its superior excellence is due to the fact that it contains, 
in the most desirable proportions, those substances which 
produce its agreeable flavor and satisfactory medicinal 
effects — neither holding them in excess nor lacking any 
constituent to be desired in this class of waters. 

As a Cathartic water, its almost entire freedom from iron 
should recommend it above all others, many of which con- 
tain so much of this ingredient as to seriously impair their 
usefulness. 

0. F. CHANDLER, Ph. D., 

Prof, of Analytical and Applied Chemistry. 

School of Mines, Columbia College, 

New Yobk, August llth, 1871. 



"♦ 






62 



SARATOGA SPRINGS. 



Analysis of Empire Spring Water. 

By Prof. C. F. CHANDLER. 

The sample of Empire Spring Water, taken by me from 
the Spring at Saratoga, contains, in one United States gallon 
of 231 cubic inches : 

Chloride of Sodium ------ - 506.630 grains. 

Chloride of Potassium 4.292 " 

Bicarbonate of Magnesia ----- 42.953 " 

Bicarbonate of Lime --__._ 109.656 " 

Bicarbonate of Lithia 2.080 " 

Bicarbonate of Soda - - 9.022 " 

Bicarbonate of Baryta ------ 0.075 " 

Bicarbonate of Iron ------- 0.793 " 

Bicarbonate of Strontia ------ a trace. 

Bromide of Sodium ------- 0.266 " 

Iodide of Sodium 0.006 " 

Sulphate of Potassa 2.769 " 

Phosphate of Soda 0.023 " 

Silica 1.145 " 

Alumina -.- 0.418 " 

Fluoride of Calcium, ) 

Biborate of Soda, > •% - ■ - - - - each, a trace. 

Organic Matter, ) 

Total 680.436 grains. 

Carbonic Acid -__. 344.669 cubic inches. 

Respectfully your obedient servant, 

0. F. CHANDLER, Ph. D., F. 0. 8., 

Prof, of Analytical and Applied Chemistry. 

School of Mines, Columbia College, 

New Yokk, August 14tk, 1872. 



Analysis of Columbian Water. 

By Prof. E, EMMONS. 

The specific gravity of this water is 1007.3 ; its solid and 
gaseous contents as follows : 

Chloride of Sodium 267.00 grains. 

Bicarbonate of Soda ------- 15.40 ' 

Bicarbonate of Magnesia ------ 46.71 

Hydriodate of Soda ------- 2.56 

Carbonate of Lime 68.00 

Carbonate of Iron -------- 5.58 

Silex- 2.05 

Hydro-Bromate of Potash scarcely a trace- 



Solid contents in a gallon 
Carbonic Acid Gas - - - - - 
Atmospheric Air - - - - - 



■ 407.30 grains. 

■ 272 06 inches. 
- 4.50 " 



<>- 




SARATOGA SPRINGS. 



63 



FACTS TO BE REMEMBERED. 

Mineral waters which are drawn from wood or 
metal are found to deteriorate rapidly, and to be- 
come impregnated with injurious properties ; a fact 
well known to Chemists aDd Physicians. It should 
also be borne in mind that the waters from the 
various springs at Saratoga and vicinity differ 
widely in character and effects ; some being cathar- 
tic, and others merely tonic ; some being extremely 
saline, and therefore said to be " strong," but by 
no means excelling in medicinal virtue, and in 
many instances proving highly injurious. 

Purchasers of Congress, Empire and Columbian 
Waters should buy the bottled icaters only. 

NONE GENUINE SOLD ON DRAUGHT. 



In conse* ,uence of the numerous inferior and 
imitation waters fraudulently imposed upon the 
public as Congress Water, particular attention is 
called to our well-known Brands upon Corks and 
Boxes, facsimiles of which are to be found in the 
foregoing pages. 



' Every genuine bottle of Congress Water has 
a large " C " raised upon the glass. 

CONGEESS & EMPIEE SPEIN'G 00., 
Saratoga Springs, N. Y., and 

94 Chambers St., New York City. 



64 



SARATOGA SPRINGS. 



IMPORTANT NOTICE. 



The Undersigned have opened a 

General Mineral Water Depot, 

For the Sale of 

NATURAL MINERAL WATERS ONLY ! 

and have on hand, fresh from the Springs, the 

Congress, Empire, Columbian, 

And other SARATOGA WATERS; as also 

a general assortment of 

AMERICA^ AND FOREIGN MINERAL WATERS, 

which are 

Delivered FREE in New York, Brooklyn, and 
Jersey City, at Proprietors' Prices. 

Orders by Mail will receive prompt attention* 
Address, 

Congress and Empire Spring Co., 

94 Chambers St., New York City. 



-^ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



021 062 870 8 




